The Highlands District Community Association (HDCA) is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to decide whether B.C. officials issuing mining permits can ignore climate change as a factor in deciding whether a project goes ahead.
The move follows recent cases brought by the HDCA to the B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Appeals Court against a provincial mining permit issued to OK Industries Ltd. (OKI) last year for a large strip mine near the southern Millstream Road entrance to the District of Highlands, a rural residential community of 2,200. The affected green space contains four sensitive ecosystems, including two woodlands, one wetland, and one old-growth forest.
“Our Supreme Court of Canada case asks whether B.C.’s Mines Inspector can decide that climate change is irrelevant in assessing mining projects,” said HDCA Chair Scott Richardson. “Should B.C.’s mining legislation be interpreted to make climate change analysis and mitigation a mandatory requirement of the mine assessment process?”
Richardson noted the day the HDCA Board unanimously passed a motion to ask the Supreme Court of Canada for a ruling – June 28 – the temperature in the Highlands reached a record 41 degrees C.
“The whole world is waking up to the fact that climate change is affecting all of us in disastrousways, yet our governments haven’t acted to change legislation to curtail climate change in step with our common interests and international commitments to reduce greenhouse gases,” said Richardson.
HDCA Vice-Chair Kenn Faris added the absence of effective government oversight leaves the private sector to self-regulate, which is like asking the fox to watch the henhouse. “It deeply saddens me and my colleagues on the HDCA Board that B.C.’s NDP government has so far failed to take a strong leadership role on this when so much is at stake,” said Faris.
“Unfortunately, this leaves us no other option than to continue to take this to the courts.” Ian Knapp, lead legal counsel for the HDCA, said that while submissions to the Supreme Court of Canada concern a 66-hectare quarry in the small municipality of the Highlands, this case has much broader implications. “Our concern is a prior finding that climate change is irrelevant here may be extended to other areas of the Canadian legal landscape and impede Canada’s progress on climate change,” said Knapp.
In separate legal action, the District of Highlands is awaiting a decision from the B.C. Court of Appeal against OKI regarding the application of the District’s bylaws to OKI’s quarry site.
The HDCA has been receiving financial support from local Highlands residents, West Coast Environmental Law, Western Mining Action Network, and the prior Highlands Preservation Society. The legal team is being led by Ian Knapp of MacKenzie Fujisawa LLP, with assistance from UVic’s Environmental Law Centre and Eugene Meehan, Q.C. and Cory Giordano of Supreme Advocacy LLP in Ottawa.